Now You See Me Now You Don't (2025)

Heist movies are fun. And if I'm being honest, the Now You See Me Movies are not the best but they're not the worse either. They fall very much in the realm of "that was fine." Again, full disclosure Now You Don't is also fine. Like its predecessors the magic in Now You Don't doesn't feel all that magical, and the gimmicks work on an extreme level of coincidence and coordination. What makes Don't work is the same thing that made the other films work, a fun cast that makes it all worth watching even if we are willfully blind to the scripts' short comings. 

And once again that's where we are at. The old cast is all here (even *spoiler redacted* which was a nice inclusion) with the sole exception of Michael Caine who is happily retired and is truly missed. Also added in for fun are three really delightful Gen Z actors (Smith being one of my favourite) who help the film feel like it's not aging out too quickly. All this and Pike in a wonderful villain role (she's so good at those). You'd almost think there are too many characters running around but the one thing the script does well is balance all their parts in a way that's easy to follow along. 

However if it wasn't for how much fun it is to watch this group interact, the film would likely be less watchable as the plot is, once again, rather silly and ridiculous and its messages are pretty heavy handed. Still, as part of a rather sleight but entertaining series, it is another sleight and entertaining entry. Sure do I wish there was a magic/heist franchise that was so intricate and mysterious that it took multiple rewatches to catch all the underlying plot points and themes? Sure this movie nerd does. But am I down for filling 2 hours with a silly fun story featuring Pike creating a real villain and not just chewing scenery? Sign me up. 

Now You See Me Now You Don't

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan,  Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, Ariana Greenblatt, Rosamund Pike, Morgan Freeman, Mark Ruffalo

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Writers: Michael Lesslie, Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese, Seth Grahame-Smith